Greenhouse is necessary for the effective early cultivation of plants. Unlike the greenhouse, it has no heating system and more compact. Plants need to be planted in it in the spring. The use of a greenhouse on the site allows you to get a healthy crop much earlier than when planting in open ground. Use arcs covered with plastic film is inconvenient. In addition, covering such a greenhouse is very difficult. It is exposed to wind, with an increase in seedlings and warming the arc, you have to dismantle. For convenient operation, you need to use the «stationary» option. It can be made of glass or polycarbonate, has a comfortable hinged or sliding cover.
Polycarbonate or glass?
Polycarbonate is a plastic panel with honeycombs filled with air. Compared to glass, it has a lot of advantages. Plastic is much lighter and stronger than glass, when destroyed, it does not form sharp fragments, stable when hail enters, does not fail under a thick layer of snow. It also has high resistance to temperature differences. The heat transfer coefficient of polycarbonate is 2 times lower than that of glass, thanks to the air gap. When installing polycarbonate is much more convenient than glass. It does not require special skills to work with it.
Inferior to glass polycarbonate only in transparency. The disadvantage of polycarbonate is clouding and yellowness with prolonged effects of ultraviolet radiation. Also, many masters are distrusted by the fact that dust and dirt fall into the pores of polycarbonate, mold comfortably feels mold in them. This problem can be avoided if the sections and joints of the canvas are carefully sealing. Polycarbonate can be easily scratched, so you need to carefully operate a greenhouse.
How to make a greenhouse from polycarbonate with your own hands
When installing plastic sheets, one should also take into account their susceptibility to temperature expansion. In order to independently assemble a polycarbonate greenhouse, you will need a very small set of tools and materials:
Cellular polycarbonate 4-6 mm thick.;
Wooden outfitted timber for a frame with a cross section of 10×10 mm.;
mock -up tape (to protect the seams);
aluminum tape to protect cells from moisture and dirt;
silicone sealant;
PVC pipe for the installation of arcs and beams;
anchors;
screwdriver;
shovel.
To get a quality design that is not inferior to factory samples, some rules must be followed:
joints and cracks should be a minimum number. All parts must be connected as denser as possible;
bend a polycarbonate sheet for obtaining an arch only across the direction of the cells;
The frame of the greenhouse is made only of durable material resistant to high humidity, mosses, lichens and mold;
To avoid moisture and dirt inside, you need to waterproof the cut of the sheet. To do this, seal the joints with special tape or fill the sections with a silicone sealant;
In order to avoid deformation of polycarbonate sheets and ensure the designs of strength and durability, you need to use only carefully dried wood and not too light galvanized pipe;
For wooden structures, use nails, and for metal profiles — screws;
Carry out the installation of a greenhouse on the site in the fall or spring, when the optimum temperature for working with the material is set. Ideal temperature-10-15 ° C.
Installation of a greenhouse
Before buying materials to build a greenhouse, you should make a drawing of the future structure and make accurate calculations. In addition to measuring the width and length of the greenhouse, the bend of the roof is also calculated taking into account the detachable parts.
Greenhouses there are 2 designs — ground and buried. The type of greenhouse is determined by the level of groundwater, the relief of the site.
In the installation of a greenhouse, the following stages are distinguished:
Determination of the size of the greenhouse.
Removing turf from the place of installation.
Digging a pit 30-70 cm deep. The walls are strengthened with boards.
The formation of the embankment from the leaves and humus at the bottom of the pit (leave 20-25 cm to the ground level.).
Production of a crown for the upper part of the structure.
Installation of the frame and fixing plastic.
To collect a greenhouse frame with a lid of an arched type, you need to purchase a bars with a thickness of 5 cm. and knock down 2 slats equal to the length of the greenhouse. Sheets of polycarbonate of the selected size are attached to them. Cut the material with a hacksaw with small teeth or a building knife.
Details join the frame using screws. The cut of the sheet is necessarily glued with tape or filled with sealant. Plastic sheets are installed so that the reflective side is outside the greenhouse.
The design is bent with an arch of the desired diameter. Further, the beam equal to the width of the alleged greenhouse is fixed with nails on the six -frame of the frame, the polycarbonate is bent with an arc and fixed on the opposite side of the structure. Bend all sheets of plastic in turn.
The ends of the arch are closed by a flat detail. To ensure the necessary fit of the end to the arched roof, the end sheet must be attached to the arch and marker should be marked. Then cut out by the marking with a jigsaw and attach with screws to the arch.
The arched cover is attached to the crown of the greenhouse. It will be removable. In addition to wooden beams, you can also use metal -plastic pipes. It is more convenient to mount polycarbonate on them, but when using this material it is very difficult to make a removable cover.